


What Feels Right

by analfromage



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Punk, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, POV Second Person, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-08 00:19:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17970851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/analfromage/pseuds/analfromage
Summary: Reader is a popular girl who feels disconnected from her superficial peers. Dan is a troublemaker who's not really all that troubled. When Dan falls victim to a not very well thought out prank at the hands of your "friends" you take it upon yourself to make it up to him. As a result, you two grow close.





	What Feels Right

**Author's Note:**

> Some notes before we begin:  
> 1\. This fic centers on some non-fictional people so if in the future they discuss their discomfort with being involved in fics I will either take this down or edit it accordingly.  
> 2\. Dan having a not so great relationship with his parents is a small plot point in this story. I obviously don't know Dan’s parents personally but from how he’s talked about them on Grumps I’m sure they’re amazing. This is simply for storytelling purposes and does reflect at all on his real life family or my opinion on them.  
> 3\. This fic is rated T for adult language, underage drinking, and recreational drug use.  
> 4\. I didn't want this story to show up in the tags for anyone that wasn't the main focus of this story, so if you care the other names you'll recognize are Arin, Suzy, Brian, Ross, and Barry.  
> 5\. There's also a lot of named side characters. If one of them shares your name and it ruins your immersion you can use the extension "interactivefics" to change their name to something else.  
> 6\. This is my first Grumps fic and my first reader insert! Hope you enjoy!

An ear splitting ring is heard throughout the building as the bell signaling the last period of the day lets out. You sit in chemistry at your usual table with your friends/lab partners and resume work on the project you’ve been spending the last week on. Despite being able to tell your friends didn’t want to be too obvious they relied on you for the grade, you couldn’t help but notice how most of the papers were on your side of the table and facing your direction. Out of the five in your group you were really the only decent one at science, even going as far to say you liked it (although you’d never admit that to your judgmental friends). Kelly, Miranda, Ally, Steph, and yourself became friends early on in freshman year- a truth undeterred by the fact that the only true thing you all had in common was each of you being admired and deemed conventionally attractive. Now you were all seniors, and although you feel content enough in your situation you still wish you could have friendships that felt more tight knit. But you suppose you should just be happy you had parties to attend during the weekends.

The room was surrounded by a quiet mumbling as the minutes passed. That is until the door handle clicked with a turn and the door opened wide. Behind this door is the culprit of the interruption, a tall student with a mess of curly brown hair. He gifts a sarcastic wave and smirk to the chemistry teacher, Mrs. H but doesn’t apologize for or even explain his tardiness. This wasn’t unusual- in fact the entire class was accustomed to being disrupted ten minutes into the period after this far into the semester. All because a certain boy couldn’t keep his truancy under control. It was the same boy who failed his senior year his first go around and as a result was back for his fifth year of high school.

“So nice of you to join us Leigh”, Mrs. H sighed from behind her desk, “I don’t suppose you have a late note?”

Leigh laughed as he shrugged and responded, “Damn, must have left it in my other pants. Sorry teach.” He seemed to pay no mind as she tsked and reached for the write up slip, beginning to fill it out. Once again, this was a daily occurrence.

You smiled to yourself at his bluntness as he took a seat at his own lab table across the room. After turning to face the group once more, you noticed each of them making their disdain obvious with rolls of eyes and exaggerated scoffs. It was no secret most of your friends viewed themselves as superior, they were after all thought of as the more popular girls of your high school. Although the public didn’t get the pleasure of seeing their bad sides, you knew first hand how nasty they could get and couldn’t help but feel annoyed on his behalf for their rudeness. You considered telling them to knock it off but doubted any of them would listen. Instead with the remaining twenty five minutes of class you just tried to get as much of their portions of the project done as possible as to not have any unnecessary homework.

Time moved slowly. Seconds seemed to tick by once every minute. Thankfully all of the work was finished before the final bell, but this left you and your friends with not much to do except gossip. Who went home with who at the last party and who was caught with what in their backpack. All too trivial to you while all too fascinating to the others. You looked away from them and accidentally caught sight of none other than Leigh himself, sitting in the corner of the room with one of the quieter girls in class. Despite not being popular she was very pretty and you found yourself absentmindedly wondering what they were to each other before catching that train of thought and pushing it away- it was none of your business after all. The other girl laughed silently and tucked a strand of the dark part of her hair behind her ear while still letting the single bleached streak fall in front of her eyes. They appeared to be done with their project as well and watching something on Leigh’s phone under the table out of Mrs. H’s line of sight. You wished you could walk over and see what was so funny as you were sure it was more amusing than how sloshed Steph’s boyfriend got over the weekend, but that daydream was cut short by the end of the day bell.

Sounds of papers shuffling and folders being tucked away into bags were drowned out by the loud chatter of teenagers. The tired eyes of your fellow students now suddenly perked up at the promise of only having one more day to finish before the weekend, and you were no exception. When everything is put away you sling your bag over your shoulder and patiently wait while your friends take their time and talk about what they want to do after school tomorrow. Since Steph’s Dad bought her a car for her sweet sixteen two years ago there was no need to hurry to catch the school bus. Soon enough they stood up as well and you followed their suit when they made their way toward the exit. Ahead of you, Leigh and the pretty girl walked out of the room smiling at each other and discussing their plans for the night, but you decided that that was enough eavesdropping for one day.

“Hey hold up”, you hear someone whisper and feel a grabbing at your wrist, pulling you backwards just as you were halfway through the door frame. The other three girls turn on their heels and walk back inside. Miranda displayed a mischievous expression but didn’t explain her hesitation to leave. She simply peeked back at Mrs. H distractedly organizing her desk and after being assured the coast was clear half-jogged to the other side of the room to pick something up. Ignoring everyone’s confusion she ushered the rest of you through the door and out of the teacher’s earshot.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa- do you wanna maybe tell us what you’re doing?”, Kelly asked, smoothing down her dark wavy hair that had been disturbed in the process.

“Okay”, she smiles maliciously, “so I’m not totally sure but I think these belong to that one weirdo who’s always late”. Miranda laughs as she holds up a ring of keys, “we should totally hide them!” 

Something red attached to the ring caught your eye and you noticed a keychain for the band Rush. Leigh was definitely a fan of them, he had worn their t-shirts before and you recognized the logo being the same as your father’s favorite band. You had made the mental note that the tardy boy with the funny jabs and cool demeanor listened to dad music, and you found it very amusing. Looking away from the item Miranda was holding up- temptingly dangling back and forth in front of the group- and toward the thief in question made your eyes crinkle in confusion. You didn’t know what everyone’s big issue with Leigh was. Sure he skipped class, was known to be a stoner, and had piercings and tattoos, but you’ve seen him be anything but nice to anyone. That wasn’t something you could say about the crowd you associated with. Besides, he mostly keeps to himself so there couldn’t be any possibility that he spited a popular kid personally somehow. The rest of the girls, however, seemed to be very on board with the idea of ruining his day.

“Oh my god”, Ally said while barking out a harsh laugh and roughly elbowing you in the side, “let’s just toss it in the trash! He’ll never find it, he’ll be so screwed!” She points to the trash can located directly outside of Mrs. H’s room and the other three girls all laugh while agreeing. Your heart aches when you resentfully join in. You do want to speak up but anxiety has taken its grip on you and the idea of going against the flow seems outlandish now. Hopefully they’ll realize how childish this is before they go through with it.

They don’t. “And… Hmph!”, Miranda proudly announces after she throws the keys into the bin as if they were a basketball and it a net. More giggles came from all around and you try to smile convincingly through the guilt. You knew this was dumb and that Leigh didn’t deserve it, so why didn’t they? And why were you so cowardly when it came to sticking up for others? Being a bystander in ridiculous stunts like this wasn’t out of the norm for you, in fact it was almost an everyday thing. It was just that you could usually at least somewhat justify it. For example- You stand lookout while Steph writes the word “whore” on Tina’s locker in sharpie because Tina flirted with Kelly’s boyfriend at Rob’s party. Or you give Ally your milk carton from lunch so she can “accidentally” knock into Rebekah and spill it all over her after Rebekah told everyone in school that Ally was a slut. All those times already made you feel like shit, but this made you feel even worse. Leigh’s never even spoken to any of you, and you only stood there watching as your so-called best friends treat him this way.

Your feelings continued to torment you all the way to the parking lot as you as you climbed into the back window seat of Steph’s car and felt the engine begin to vibrate until finally it was too much. “Fuck! Wait!”, you press your palm against your forehead as you pretend to berate yourself while simultaneously trying to think quickly on your feet.

“What’s up?”, Steph asks, positioning her rear view mirror to be reflecting you instead of the road. Ally, Miranda, and Kelly all look to you for an answer.

Thankfully this was when you learned you were pretty decent at improv. “I totally just remembered I bombed Ms. O'neill's quiz on Tuesday! She said since I was sick when we learned that lesson, and I always hang out after class to help her rearrange the desks back to normal on days when we do group assignments, that I could have a couple more days to study and retake it today after school”, as you lie through your teeth as you unbuckle yourself and lean down between your knees to pick your school bag back up. “I’m just gonna take the late bus home. I’ll catch you guys later, okay?” 

You hear a chorus of “yeah”s and “kay”s and (to your surprise) even one “good luck!” as you cautiously wave goodbye to them. Despite your nerves they seem to completely buy the fake story. Counting your blessings you quickly head back inside the building and towards the fated chem lab. Fortunately the janitorial staff had not made their rounds to this corner yet, unfortunately someone drinking a Coke did. You bent over and rummaged through the excess garbage on top searching for that familiar red keychain. Once successful in fishing out the object of your desire, you wipe your hands and the keys onto your pants, trying to clean the soda at least somewhat. Now is when the real challenge begins.

You knew Leigh drove to school because your friends have made fun of his obvious hand-me-down truck plenty of times prior. With that knowledge in mind you figured he had to still be in the building so with the keys in hand you began frantically scouting out the halls. You didn’t see him anywhere, however you did see a small cluster of students breaking up and heading their separate ways. Among them was Kelly’s boyfriend. She rarely stayed in serious relationships for long you so didn’t bother retaining his name, but you do remember him being decent enough the last time he tagged along on an outing. In a desperate attempt you ask if he’s seen any guys around the hallways with long curly hair and he gives you a confused look but tells you to check the band lockers. In lue of explaining you simply waved him off an jogged off towards where you thought the band room was, hoping what’s-his-face wouldn’t bring this incident up to his girlfriend later. The hallway leading up to the room had a row of larger lockers meant for storing instruments, and after turning the corner you found who you were searching for. Leigh was frustratingly trying to pick the lock on his band locker to no avail. 

He must of heard you walk up behind him because he started to turn around and say, “They weren’t in chem Suz- Oh!” Now after fully facing him you were suddenly filled with a sense of uncertainty. You’ve never actually initiated contact with him before- in fact the two of you have never even been this close before. And although you knew he was only a year older than you he seemed so much more mature that it made you hesitate. He narrowed his eyes but continued, “My bad… thought you were somebody else… (Y/n) right?” You nod and he hums in response before peering around the hall behind you like he was checking whether or not you two were alone. You were. He stepped toward you with a questioning glance, “Did you need something?”

“Uh- um”, you stutter, not knowing how to approach the subject. Leigh seemingly takes this as you just being shy and gives you a reassuring, warm smile but doesn’t interject. Shit, he was nice. He was nice, you let a bunch of bullies disrespect him, and now he was going to think you were one of them. You realize that there isn’t a way to explain this away so you simply hold up his “lost” possession.

“My keys!”, he exclaimed as he juts out his hand for you to drop them into. You begrudgingly comply. “So they were back in Mrs. H’s?”, he asks as his arm retreats back and you can see his relieved expression change into one of confusion as he regards the item in his grasp.

“Well… not exactly…”

“Eugh”, he blurted out, maneuvering the set of keys from the palm of his hands to be pinching in between his index finger and thumb and inspecting them closely, “why are they all gross?”

You sigh as you are forced to reluctantly come clean. “I didn’t get them from class. The girls I sit with thought it’d be funny to mess with you and throw them away, and I didn’t stop it. They’re dirty because someone threw out a soda can over top of them.”

He’s quiet for a moment, just staring at you while you stare at the floor, until he scans you up and down and drops his arm to his side as if in defeat. “Are you fucking kidding me?”, he asks quietly, and you can’t tell by his tone if he was talking to you or to himself.

Either way, you shake your head and try to apologize. “I know, I’m-”

“So you what?”, he interrupts louder now while throwing his hands up in an exaggerated shrugging motion and stepping backwards away from you. “Did you want to flaunt this mean joke in my face or something?”

“What? No! I just-”, you try again but don’t get the opportunity to finish.

He’s looking away now, exasperatingly shaking his head while rolling his eyes. “I really don’t understand what angle you’re trying to pull. Unless… Oh!”, he points at you as if he’s figured it out, “your bitchy clique is around the corner or something aren’t they? Why don’t you guys just piss off.” With one final sneer Leigh turns around to unlock his locker. He pulled an acoustic guitar outside of it and began to walk away without giving you a second thought. Before he could escape, however, something inside you called out to not give up so easily and you suddenly heard your own voice yelling.

“Wait!”

Leigh, annoyed, turned to face you. “Jeez, what now?”, he shouts back. His frankness put you off, which added to you already feeling extremely nervous was not a factor in your favor. 

“Look, you don’t have to believe me, but I really did just want to let you know that I’m sorry for letting this prank go as far as it did. It wasn’t even clever- just mean- and I should have told them right away to leave your stuff alone. I honestly don’t know how to stand up to them. My…”, you pause, “friends can be a bit much. Well, more than a bit if I’m being honest. Anyway I can see it caused you a lot of stress and I feel really bad about it. If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you please let me know.” You almost didn’t catch it, but his demeanor shifted ever so slightly at your hesitation at the word “friends” and he started to slowly make his way back to where you stood.

“Anything?”, he urged, and for some reason you nod your head without hesitation. “What are you doing tonight?”

Alright, so maybe the pretty girl from class wasn’t his girlfriend after all. “Wh- Why?”

“Because…”, he started as he took one final large step into your personal space, “my band’s playing a show tonight and I’d love for you to come.” You were taken aback. Did he actually want you there or was it obvious his style of music wasn’t your usual scene and he only wanted to make a fool out of you? For some unknown reason you had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t the latter, and okay, this is and interesting turn of events. “It’s at Charlie’s Bar on Fort Road, do you know it?” 

You did, you’ve had many nights when Steph made you pick up her college boyfriend after he got too wasted, but there was one glaring problem. “I’m not twenty one.”

“I didn’t think you were”, he laughs. “Thursday nights are eighteen and over night. No alcohol served”, he explained. “You are eighteen, right? If not I know a guy who makes a pretty convincing fake that owes me one.”

His blatant disregard for the law doesn’t come as a shock, in fact it makes you crack a smile. You try to hide it but all of his attention being on you makes attempting to play it off unsuccessful and he raises his eyebrow playfully. This reaction causes you to bite your lip and look away in embarrassment making him laugh softly. In return you lightly shove his shoulder. “Don’t make fun of me!”, you chide trying to come off in a chastising manner but your joyful tone betrays you, “And yes, I’m eighteen. No need to cash in your favor.”

“I’m not making fun”, he promises, “you’re just being cute!” You roll your eyes and try to ignore your cheeks growing even warmer. Thankfully Leigh doesn’t comment on this and instead asks, “Do you need a ride?”

“I never said I would come”, you respond. He raises an eyebrow once again, this time in challenge. “No”, you cave, “I can borrow my Mom’s car.”

“Alright”, he grins wide as he finally steps away from you, repositioning the guitar strapped to his back. “I’ll see you there babygirl.” With that he simply winks at you like it were normal before returning to making his way down the hall while you’re left wondering what the hell just happened.


End file.
